Two students beat off competition from hundreds of schools in the UK to take part in a mock EU Council debate.

Ihsan Khan and Sacha Jose outside the Law Society. Picture: Mayfield School

Years 13s, Sacha Jose and Ihsan Khan, from Mayfield School, were selected to represent Luxembourg at the event held at the Law Society in Chancery Lane.

To prepare for the meeting, the pupils from Pedley Road, Goodmayes, also got to meet the Luxembourg ambassador to the UK to discuss Brexit.

They also revised their Erasmus scheme and citizens rights knowledge, ready to debate the topics with the 46 other mock EU Council members.

Sacha told the Recorder: “Being provided with the opportunity to engage in the workings of Brexit, and the way in which it remoulds our political and legal world was enthralling.

The Mayfield pupils negotiated with the other member states. Picture: Mayfield School

“The EU mock council merely enacted as a catalyst for my interest in debating over political affairs and being able to unravel the complexities of politics - something of which I find spellbinding.

Ihsan was equally enchanted with experiencing democracy first hand.

He said: “It was a magnificent experience.

“The structure and professionalism of the event was signified to us from the offset.

“The skills which I have learnt are second to none.”​

James Piller, politics teacher at Mayfield School, enjoyed watching the students partake in the process and become absorbed with the subject matter.

“It was brilliant to see the students engaged in topics which will be relevant to them in the years to come,” he said.

“I hope that Brexit negotiations go as well as they did in this simulation.”

A spokesman from the European Comission said the event was organised in tandem with the British Council.

“Students from 32 schools across the UK gathered at the Law Society in London, to step into the shoes of EU leaders in a ‘mock Council’, mimicking the format in which EU leaders discuss policy and take decisions,” he said.

“The 64 pretend politicians discussed two key issues: the future of the United Kingdom in the Erasmus+ programme and the rights of EU citizens in the UK once it has left the European Union.”

For more information about national mock EU events visit: ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/events

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